Prey
by Nekocin
Summary: [Opscifiandfantasy] [AU] The mark of a hunter has appeared again.


For the **opscifiandfantasy 2015**.

There is actually more of this story when I first delved into this. /laughs nervously/ But I couldn't make it fit properly (might just make this into a mini-series).

Loosely based on CLAMP's " _Tokyo Babylon_ ". :)

* * *

 _/Did you know? That there are corpses buried under the sakura tree?_

 _-Sakurazuka Seishirou/_

* * *

 _"Om vajra dharma kiri shawa."_

His mind was on full alert as he carefully dissected ancient spells and selected one after another to strengthen his initial casting. His lips moved to form the words, the tongue rolling quickly through all the syllables without hesitation.

The pentagram flared into life, changing from bright yellow to red. The five-pointed star immediately chained the spirit down to the soil.

The spirit screamed, profanities left her mouth, too far gone to make those words understandable for the human ears. Gurgles and growls surrounded her speech and the more she uttered something, the more her presence felt hotter against his skin, searing into his honed senses developed to pinpoint the imbalances within the city. Even her appearance looked more like a demon than the photo he had been tasked to carry along.

His senses were all screaming at him.

She was the anomaly. She shouldn't exist. She should be destroyed.

If he strained his ears, he would have understood her screams of hatred, he would have sympathized with her current situation. But he was not there to be a naive caster slowly falling into a wandering spirit's ever-flowing curses.

 _"Om vajra dharma kiri shawa,"_ he kept his voice steady. Loud and clear. He took long, irregular breaths to keep up. His fingers were shaking already despite having using the same form for many years, he felt the tremors in his wrist and the aching in his shoulders bearing underneath the evil presence.

The screams were getting louder and louder, turning into howls of a dog spirit.

She thrashed in her restraints, kicking her knees and rolling her shoulders in an attempt to loosen herself from the pentagram. But nothing was working until she opened her mouth and started screaming twister winds into his direction.

His body instinctively flinched when an unexpected wind blast hit him in the chest, sending his hair in disarray and ruffling his clothes. He should've left the ceremonial robes behind, the long white sleeves of the tunic kept flying around and hitting his face left and right, he thought with regret before stopping his mind from wandering again.

He dug his feet into the ground to renew his resolve as his hands tightened over each other for a second, then went through the methodical sequence of the Zodiac.

Rat. Ox. Tiger. Rabbit. Dragon. Snake. Horse. Sheep. Monkey. Rooster. Dog. Boar.

No, not yet. He can still complete the cycle with another round of spells.

 _"Rinpyo! Tosha! Kaichin! Retsu Zai! Zen!"_

Repeat.

Sweat trickled down his temple. He had been at this for almost an hour with no glimmer of hope in sight.

This spirit had been feeding on negative human emotions for so long, she had practically grown in power. There's no way to make this any easier for her. Or himself. He'd have to put her down violently with an attack spell and then shred that part of revenge from her core before things go wrong-

 _-There!_

He lunged forward and thrust his hand into what once had been her stomach. Then he slammed a direct-contact spell power into the spirit using is arm as a current and hoped this was the right one to expell her growing demonic power.

The scream turned into a shrill cry for what seemed like an eternity before it finally died down, leaving his ears still ringing. And the wind had stopped blowing a storm in the area.

He inhaled sharply, slowly retrieving his arm and checked the spirit's aura. When he couldn't sense any darkness looming within her, he relaxed his shoulders and expelled the breath he'd been holding.

Danger zone out of the way.

"I'm going to send you to the afterlife." He released the five-pointed star constraining her body and erected another barrier, this time, to help her move on to the next plane. He formed the sequence of the Zodiac again but this time, murmured a different spell, a purification sutra to relieve the spirit from her attachment to the living.

She mouthed "Thank you," as she disappeared into bubbles of light.

He gave the area another final scan for anything out of the ordinary, found nothing, and with a sense of satisfaction blooming in his chest, he grabbed his fallen bag from beside a bench and rummaged through it until he found the blocky telephone.

Pops had insisted he should bring one along during his jobs. His brothers had insisted he should buy the newest smartphone model for its convenience and fast internet option, but he didn't trust new technology all that much when he could perfectly summon a shikigami to bring important messages to the clan headquarters. Messages can be distorted through the use of technology and if he wasn't careful, it can be used against him as well.

Glaring at the contraption with some distaste, he punched the number back home and listened to it ring until it got picked up after the third one.

"Hey, Ace here. I just finished with the Kazue haunting case. I'll be-" Ace paused, "Wait, what? There's a new one? Wait, why are you giving it to me? Can't someone else do it? Can't Thatch do it? Someone else-oh. _OH!_ All right, fine, I'll take it. I won't be handling it today but tomorrow I'll head out first, you hear?" He clicked his tongue in annoyance, ended the call and shoved the phone into his bag with a huff. His eyes scanned the area, looking for a taxi or a bus stop nearby and ran off, hitching his backpack to one shoulder. Another block and he would make it to the nearest bus stop.

Along the way he kicked up a few pink flowers.

How peculiar.

Sakura season should have ended months ago by now. A latebloomer perhaps, Ace thought as he shrugged off his suspicion when he spotted the bus coming to a stop at bus stop.

 _/Can't make it home today./_ He typed a short message to his family when he finally sat down. _/Will come back tomorrow./_ Once done with notifying them, he finally leaned back and closed his tired eyes to catch a short nap.

* * *

"Luffy."

Luffy hitched his shoulders and pinched his eyes closed, trying to make himself smaller. His hand clenched around the knobs of his knees and his nose wrinkled as the sandalwood scent thickened in the air.

Slivers of smoke rose above the scenthing candles in the four corners of the room - North, East, South and West. They were basic purification items that would distort any evil eye from peeking into the room and served as a protective barrier if the wards woven along the walls ever disappeared.

"You missed your lessons again, didn't you?" Sabo's displeasure oozed through the paper screen.

Luffy flinched but otherwise didn't refute the accusation. "They're boring, Sabo. And stupid. Why don't you teach me instead?"

Luffy had promised he would be a good student, he had promised he would work hard during practice, but Luffy wasn't very much of a student.

He preferred not to be stuck in the clan library for the whole day. He'd rather not to go through hundreds of thick, dusty, old books detailing the origins of their ancestry. All these dead people have nothing to do with him. Why should he know their names? Why should he revel to their findings and personal history? Why should he focus all his attention to their teachings?

He'd rather learn all his lessons through demonstration. Sabo had taught him basic barrier spells that even a weaker clan member like himself could perform with just the use of red paint or cigarette ash or charcoal. Soon he'll be able to cast his own barrier spells without drawing pentagrams on some surface, instead he would chant sutras and throw pre-made _ofuda_. For now he can only erect a barrier over the doghouse. It's an accomplishment he hoped to surpass one day.

Preferably today.

"I'm sorry, Luffy. You know I would if I could." Sabo said. Sadness tinged his words as Luffy heard the rustle of clothes landing on the floor, followed by more rustling of clothes being slipped on.

The clan members only dress up in ceremonial robes when the case was expected to go out of hand or when they were set out to meet important, political figures. The white tunic stood out among the modern day fashion and would immediately attract attention from both the people and the spirits.

If Sabo could have his way, he'd rather just keep wearing his suits instead of these complicated knotted robes.

"Can't someone else do your job?" Luffy grumbled and crossed his arms. "Like Marco? He's powerful and ooold."

"Don't let him hear you say that," Sabo said. "And no, Luffy. Your father entrusted this task to me so I'll honor it with the best of my abilities."

"What about Ace? When is he going to come back?"

Sabo hummed thoughtfully, "He should be finished with his case by now. He said he got caught up with another one along the way so he'll be back by tomorrow. Why don't you ask him for help when you see him- Oh for god's sake. How does this even wrap?"

"Need some help, Sabo?"

Sabo shuffled around the paper screen, his hands lifting up some parts of the long white pants. "No thanks, I'm fine. I'll tie it on my way out."

Luffy scrambled up from his kneeling position, grinning, "You look like a beautiful bride. Koala would be impressed."

Sabo whipped the loose tie at Luffy's head.

"Ow! That's abuse!"

"You were saying?"

Luffy pouted as he rubbed his abused head. "Nothing."

"Thought so." Sabo tilted his head to the direction of the dresser. "You can prepare my stuff then."

Luffy's eyes lit up immediately. "Of course!"

* * *

It was time.

 _-Come. Child of D, come.-_

Law had fought against it for so long, ignoring the signs, going on his merry way with daily life and pretending he was a normal human being. But now, now all this pretense had to stop. Even though he had tried pushing the thought out of his mind, thrusting it into the back of his mind hoping that he would eventually forget this job - this cage set out to ensnare him until he dies. And yet, because he had tried pushing the thought away, it came back niggling at the beginnings of his sleep, tugging at his toes, his blood and skin.

All this normalcy had to come to an end some day.

And it did.

When blood dripped along his hand and the scent of death filled the night.

When dirt caked his pants and got stuck underneath his nails.

When he had buried Cora-san.

He was reminded of his destiny, the path that would lead him to _this place_ Ueno Park on regular basis. The place where magic was the most concentrated, where the energy beneath the soil thrummed the most vile.

Ever since Cora-san's death he had been purposefully ignored this side of the park. Taking great lengths to walk around the area where no trees were planted, purposefully taking two trains and one bus to finally make it home that was built in the outskirts of Shibuya-ku, Shoto.

If he could have his way, he would have rented an apartment in the area of his practice. But apartments in Tokyo were ridiculously high-priced and he couldn't just leave the house he had settled himself in. The house was passed down from generation to generation, two storey family house that had been part of a once powerful and significant family clan in the history of Japan, until it finally landed into his care through his distant relation of another distant relation.

Property laws worked differently, apparently, when it comes to relics of the Onmyoujutsu - an old practice generally painted as divination.

The Wind whispered a lot when he tried to avoid the park, specifically targeted for his own ears only.

 _-Come.-_ the wind had whispered, whenever he took the long route home.

Sometimes the wind would play around a bit, tousling his hair to capture his attention before running off to leave the lingering scent of sweet tea clinging on his coat and the bile rising up behind his throat. Other times it would carry blossoms along and presented them to him. A gift. A reminder.

 _-Come, Child of D-_ Today, the wind has attached his name.

Now he could no longer outrun his destiny.

He fixed his gaze at the tree, eyes scanning the pink flowers sprouted along black, sturdy branches. Some flowers were white with accents of lightest pink, similar to peach blossoms, while others were radiant pink to the point of resembling the color of watermelons in Summer.

 _-You have arrived, Child of D.-_

The wind picked up, lightly pushing at the flowers and sending blossoms flurrying into the air until they all hit the ground, the tree roots and touched his shoes. It was trying to impress him with showering him with flowers.

Unlike the normal cherry blossom tree, this tree produces cherry blossoms throughout the year, never following the seasonal changes in the area, whether it's deep in the winter or in the middle of monsoon rains. Cherry blossoms kept blooming from its branches, once all of the petals fell, more will grow in their place. The citizens of Tokyo call it the Eternal Spring tree.

 _-'You're finally here.'-_

His face contorted into a slight grimace before smoothing into a neutral expression.

The voice was different from the wind and it came from the general direction of the tree. Slightly higher, slightly childish. Despite the youthful impression of the tones, he knew instinctively that the tree was older than the city, practically ancient.

The hairs on the back of his neck crackled up as if electrocuted.

"You called and I came." He said smoothly, absently rubbed his forearms to calm down the goosebumps popping along his skin.

 _-'You usually ignore my calls. What changed?'_ \- One of the branches lowered from its regal place pointing to the _Hour of the Ox_ direction and dared to caress its flowers against his shoulders, then touched his cheek. He shivered involuntarily and quelled his fear at the idea that these branches might as well turn into tentacles of a creature.

He glared at the tree and stopped the tree branch from going further. "Like I have a choice in this part. I did not choose to become like this."

 _-'You always have a choice, Trafalgar-san. You have the power to control this world and yet you turn your back to it for worldly, materialistic things.'-_

"I did not turn my back to my power." Law scrunched his nose as he fought back a scowl. "I simply ignored your calls."

 _-'Rude, child.'-_ The tree sounded displeased.

The branches shook.

The flowers attached to the branches rustled along with the movement, louder and louder, until it's all Law could hear above the buzzing of mosquitoes and the car engines humming past.

A flurry of petals hit him right in the face.

Law sputtered, surprised, as he tasted the flowers behind his teeth and smacked the assault with a small ripple of energy from the back of his hand. The petals bounced off without retaliation.

The tree radiated amusement.

"If you have nothing more to say, I'll be on my way then." Law turned on his heels, purposefully shrugging off the distressed cries from the tree. "Good night."

 _-'Wait!'-_ His dismissal made the tree stop abruptly shaking its branches. _-'Don't just up and leave like that.'-_

"I can do whatever I want."

 _-'Insolent brat. Has your predecessor taught you nothing? Has Rocinante taught you nothing about your part?'-_

Law stopped walking. He clenched his fists but refused to look over his shoulder. "In today's society, I find this whole contract thing between us absolutely tedious."

 _-'You can't fight this for long, Trafalgar-san. This is your destiny.'-_

"Watch me."

 _-'The longer you ignore the call, the more you will throw the world into chaos.'-_

"The world can go crazy for all I care."

 _-'Law!'-_

Law snorted. So now she resorted to calling his name?

"Give me one good reason why I should follow this practice? After all, there's nothing left in this world that makes me want to protect it from supernatural forces."

The tree rustled, reaching out one of her longer branches. _-'Come back, Law.'-_

"Unlike you, I still have a job to do." Law loosened his fists and straightened his back, ready to stalk out of the park.

 _-'One day, Law, one day, you will realize your mistake. One day you will realize this is the only job for you to fulfill.'-_

"Not likely. I'll be happy to put you out of your misery though."

 _-'I'll be waiting for you, Law. I'm not going anywhere.'-_

"Great. The next time we meet, I'll bring some matches and a gasoline to send you into flames."

The tree emitted her displeasure, her branches rustled loudly.

 _-'You will kill for me. Until then, Law. Until then.'-_

Law ignored the rest of her murmurs, hopping into a bus and folded himself in a chair, pulling up the collar to his jaw.

No one would call him Child of D. No one recognized him. Not even the man sitting beside him. When the park was no longer in sight, he relaxed into this normalcy. But no matter how he willed his body to relax, his muscles remained tense and his mind was filled with a round of worries.

It won't be long before destiny catches up to him.

And by then, there will be no turning back to this peaceful normalcy.

Such was the fate of anyone dabbling in the arts of the _Sakurazukamori_ \- the keeper of the burial grounds underneath the cherry blossom.

* * *

And the sakura tree was right. Two days later, Law went hunting.

* * *

After sending Sabo off to a long overnight trip heading to Kyoto, Luffy walked around the Shinagawa station, almost getting carried along with the night passengers as they all rushed out of the station to buy some late night groceries or enter the nearest restaurants for a quick bite. Luffy remained standing outside Shinatatsu Ramen restaurant, with his arms crossed and eyed the entrance thoughtfully before gazing to Shinatatsu Donburi beside it. He hadn't brought much money along when he walked Sabo to the station; his savings still stuffed underneath the pillows of his bed back home.

Every time a customer so much enter or exit the restaurant, the flavors hanging in the air tickled his nose and awakened his stomach.

Meat, spicy meat, roasted meat…

His stomach groaned, reminding him that he hasn't eaten anything since…twenty minutes ago.

He could just sneak in and have another eat and run episode. The prospect of eating meat got him excited as his teeth started to water. Wiping drool with the back of his hand, Luffy entered the Shinatatsu Ramen and ordered several bowls of ramen that looked like they have really delicious meat sprinkled on top.

Ten minutes later, after stuffing all bowls into his mouth, Luffy slipped a piece of paper underneath his bowls.

 _/I'll pay you back when I have accumulated my treasure./_

He bowed, thanking for the delicious meals and ran off.

The waitress, who had served him, stood frozen for a second before she screamed, "THIEF! CATCH THAT THIEF!", as she clutched her apron with shaking fingers.

Luffy dodged respectable patrons who tried to catch him, easily slipping out of their reach with his thin, wiry frame. He rushed back into the busy Shinagawa station, ignored the police whistles and the sound of people giving chase ("HALT! STOP THAT BRAT!"), passed through the Kita Shinagawa Station and burst out the exit to enter the Former Tokaido Road. He criss-crossed the small family residences and shops, nearly tripping over a cat and a dog and several pedestrians, and tried to look for alley ways to hide in.

His lungs burned, his legs were aching, he was almost at his limit when his eyes caught the brilliant red of a bridge leading to weathered, gray wooden _torii_ gate. Ace and Sabo were going to kill him if they found out he desecrated a shrine. He swerved, climbed over the railing of the bridge and carefully lowered himself underneath.

With the moon high up in the sky and the streetlights burning low, Luffy had a small chance of hiding here completely undetected. He hoped nobody would pay attention to the lone shadow underneath the bridge and inhaled slowly, perking his ears for the sound of upset police officers hot on his heels.

Soon they will have his face plastered all over the area. Thank goodness there were no odd features about his average face to be set apart from everyone else. Better lay low right now. He rummaged through his pants and found the cheap, gag sunglasses with a white beard attached to it. He had stuffed into Sabo's luggage earlier before his brother snatched it away and shoved it into Luffy's pants.

When no sounds of running shoes passed overhead or distressed policemen calling for lookout, Luffy scrambled out from underneath his hiding place, the gag glasses perched on his nose and swung himself up over the railing to land on the bridge.

The streets were quiet, save for one or two cars and a bus driving past. The stream of pedestrians that used to walk along this road had thinned out to one or two security guards roaming around a factory and employees and office ladies who worked over time.

The night was quiet.

Or at least, too quiet, save for the dogs in the neighborhood barking aloud.

Luffy was about to turn around and head off towards the bus station when a wind blasted at him from the back, raking his hair up. Goosebumps popped out along the back of his neck and Luffy involuntarily shivered.

The wind had carried the scent of blood and decay. And most of all, something dangerous.

He stared ahead to the direction where the wind had picked up, past the torii gate and the shrine. Ace had explained him the basics of sensing anything unusual, the most simplified version was that it's an odd mixture of electricity in the air and smelling the area.

His skin crawled.

His stomach did an odd leapt and his breath got stuck in the back of his throat.

Something happened. Something had happened there.

The dogs barking no longer seemed like usual night life noises. They've probably sensed something was amiss. Animal senses were more attuned to things the humans can't explain.

And yet, curiosity got the better of him. Luffy headed towards the shrine, taking care not to make any noise. He was already past the meditation room when he heard the odd sound of someone whimpering in the gardens.

Luffy peered around the building, not knowing what to expect.

 _"… Kaichin. Retsu Zai. Zourai. Zen."_

The shadow of a man went into shreds in a flurry of blossoms and his screams were cut short. Blood had splattered across the tree trunk and the soil.

A gasp escaped Luffy's mouth before he could stop himself.

There was another figure. Another silhouette standing near the body…or what once had been a body. The silhouette whipped around and found him before Luffy could backpedal into the shadows.

* * *

Ace threw open the door and when he saw the familiar tuft of black hair and the red shirt, he shouted, "Luffy, where the hell have you been? I've been calling your phone the whole night. I thought you were only to see Sabo off. Where did you sleep?" More questions started to build up when Luffy didn't react immediately.

Luffy's eyes were vacant as he stumbled inside. No words left his mouth as he smiled up at his brother. Luffy raised his hand to grab onto the Ace's shirt, bunched the fabric between his fingers and lowered his head to Ace's chest.

"Luffy?" Ace's anger disappeared as he took note of the shivering shoulders and the pale face. "What happened?" He automatically wrapped his arms around Luffy and carefully ushered him into the living-room.

It's only when he lowered Luffy to sit down did he notice something odd. While Luffy's whole body was frozen stiff, shivering from the cold, there was an odd heat flaring up from his hands. His fingers trailed the palm and the fingers, inspecting for something odd before he finally decided to turn Luffy's hands around.

"Fuck!" He uttered, his mind going haywire as he stared at the symbols. "This can't be happening."

Five-pointed stars on the back of Luffy's hands.

 _Curse._

"Prey." Ace read the traced lines with growing horror.

Eventually Death.

The stars were searing hot too.

Which meant, the caster was nearby.

Ace grabbed the stash of ofuda he always carried around on his body and threw them around the room, sending them sticking to the walls, doors and windows.

 _"Om vajra dharma kiri shawa."_

He quickly formed the signs of the Zodiac, his hands working fast as he cast protective barrier spells, then tracing spells and after ward offensive spells. One after another.

But his spells reached nothing. They couldn't find the origin of the curse. He bit back the urge to send a counter curse to the caster. But he can't do that with Luffy in the room. The curse will send a backlash far greater Luffy could handle in his state.

After what seemed like an eternity when his attempt on tracing the caster went fruitless, Ace became desperate and wrecked his brain looking for a stronger spell, a shikigami, anything that might help him catch this culprit. It wasn't until Luffy started moving did Ace lose his concentration momentarily.

"… Ace?" Luffy murmured, his voice slow and tinged with sleep. His eyes fluttered slowly and brightened when he recognized Ace just in time to feel a gust of wind cutting between them. Ace yelped, quickly finished the spell before it could go chaotic and carefully led a psuedo ceremony of purificiation to finish off his ritual.

"You're here!" Luffy brightened. "I thought you were going come back tomorrow."

Ace gave him a long thoughtful look. "You don't remember?"

"What of?" Luffy tilted his head. The serious look Ace was giving Luffy looked oddly out of place in their home. Usually his brother laughed a lot, his mouth wide open.

"Last night. You didn't come home?"

"What do you mean? I am home right now. You were out for a job! And you had another job."

"You really don't-."

"Who cares? You're here! Come teach me how to make those cool spells you just did!"

"Luffy." Ace frowned. Memory loss. What the hell happened last night when Luffy dropped Sabo off? He shook his head. "Never mind." He gave his best impression of a smile. "Let's eat. You missed breakfast."

" _YESSSSS!_ Is there meat? Have you put meat in it? I want meat!"

After dinner is done, he was going to clear out the whole apartment with Luffy and move back into the main house. While Luffy was happily scarfing down his food, Ace sent a quick message to Sabo, _/The Sakurazukamori is alive./_

* * *

 **.The End.**

* * *

Thank you for reading!

 **Notes:**  
\- Those odd chanting? I copied that from the Tokyo Babylon translation. Honestly some of them might just be a chant of ghibrish or a mix of sanskrit (I'm sorry).  
\- Hour of the Ox - between 1:00 AM - 3:00 AM, also known as witching hour.  
\- Torii gate - is the entrance to a shinto shrine  
\- Ofuda - papers scrawled with spells  
\- Shikigami - term used for summoned spirits.  
\- Onmyoudo - Divination, see wikipedia for more info.


End file.
